Election official: Turnout lower than normal

November 8, 2011

Only 8 percent of eligible voters cast ballots during the 2011 Catawba County municipal and school board elections.

At precinct 28, only four people voted. At precinct 35, six people cast ballots.

Of 47,419 registered voters, 3,865 voted in municipal and school board races.

â€śIâ€™ve never seen numbers that low since Iâ€™ve been here,â€ť said Larry Brewer, Catawba County Board of Elections director for the past 14 years. â€śNumbers are going to be a little less than normal.â€ť

The highest precinct had about 313 voters, Brewer said.

Other than the low turnout and a couple â€śminor glitches,â€ť Brewer said, precinct operations ran smoothly.

A child pulled a fire alarm at the Newton Main Library polling site at about 6:15 p.m. on Tuesday. One man was forced to finish voting during the alarm, and several voters waited in the parking lot until the alarm finished to cast their ballots.